NRDC Office Receives the FSC Leadership Award

Natural Resources Defense Council’s Washington, DC office is a recipient of the 2021 Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Leadership Award that recognizes uncommon excellence that advances responsible forest management and forest conservation. FSC is the world’s most trusted forest certification system and identified our DC renovation project for its use of 100% FSC-certified wood (examples shown are the below photos) and FSC design guidance to contractors. This is just one of many sustainable design features present in this office. An outline of our comprehensive green building requirements can be found in the NRDC Design and Construction Protocols, part of successful implementation is selecting an architect and construction team that supports the sustainability goals.

Why is FSC-certified wood important?

FSC principles bring economic and social benefits by providing communities with income from the surrounding forest and access to things like medical facilities. The environmental benefits also support biodiversity and helps conserve vital ecosystems (the world’s most endangered species live in forests).

How can you support sustainable forestry?

FSC wood and wood fibers can be found in furniture, printing paper, toilet-paper, laminate, millwork, telephone booths, and more! The FSC Public Search tool is a great starting point to find FSC-certified producers and sellers for many different products. Other wood options to prioritize are locally sourced, recycled, reclaimed, and salvaged. Recycled is often engineered from discarded wood, reclaimed is typically removed from buildings undergoing demolition, and salvaged could come from fallen trees or other wood manufacturing.  Making sustainable forestry decisions ensures that future generations of all species will have forests to meet their needs and values.

Special thanks to the NRDC Workplace Strategy team, Studio Gang Architects, and rand* for prioritizing sustainability on the NRDC Washington, D.C. renovation project. For a full list of the materials selected for the project, please e-mail sustainability@nrdc.org.